Measurement and network modeling of liquid permeation into compacted mineral blocks

microbalance has been used to measure the rate of uptake of wetting fluid, 1,3-propandiol, into a cube of compacted calcium carbonate. The cube had si des 12 mm long, with a wax band applied to the outer perpendicular edges of one basal plane to prevent external surface uptake, and the liquid was app lied in a highly controlled manner at this single face only. The percolatio n characteristics of an identical sample were measured by mercury porosimet ry, A three-dimensional void structure was generated with the same percolat ion characteristics using a software package called "Pore-Cor." The wetting of 1,3-propandiol into this model structure was then calculated using an e xtended Lucas-Washburn equation, developed by Bosanquet, which includes vis cous, inertial, and capillary force effects. Neither the experimental nor t he simulated wetting can be explained in terms of an "hydraulic stream tube " or "effective hydraulic radius" model. A mathematical function is present ed which compensates for the differences in the boundary conditions between the simulation and the experiment. The wetting is found to be initially sl owed by inertial flow, then speeded up to a t(0.8) dependence by the connec tivity of the three-dimensional void network, The effect of the inertial Ro w is most pronounced for larger pores. (C) 2000 Academic Press.